
Professor Mark Birkinshaw
M.A., Ph.D.(Cantab.), C.Phys., M.Inst.P., F.R.A.S.
Obituary
Professor Mark Birkinshaw died in hospital in July 2023 after a short but serious illness. Mark was the William P. Coldrick Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and founded the Bristol Astrophysics Research Group. Mark conducted research across a broad range of cosmology and astrophysics, including pioneering work on the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and observations of active galactic nuclei and their environments, from X-rays to radio wavelengths.
Expertise
I research in the fields of cosmology, the structure of the Universe and how it changes, and astrophysics, concentrating on fast flows from the huge black holes at the centres of galaxies and their effect on their surroundings.
Current positions
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William P. Coldrick Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics
School of Physics
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I work on the large-scale structure of the Universe and the properties of the massive objects contained within it, using both observation and theory. I am particularly known for making the first detections
of the change in brightness of the microwave background radiation caused by inverse-Compton scattering in clusters of galaxies (the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect), and in demonstrating how this effect can
be used to measure cosmological parameters.
I worked on NASA's Chandra satellite before launch, and use it and other space-based and ground-based telescopes from X-ray to optical to radio
bands to study galaxies, especially those hosting massive black holes and showing signs of unusual activity.
In these areas I give professional and public presentations, but I also speak
and write on more general astronomical and cosmological topics.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
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Gaia CU9: facilitating exploitation of Gaia data - Bristol component
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of PhysicsDates
01/04/2023 to 31/03/2026
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8096 Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellow Dr Belinda Wilkes
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of PhysicsDates
21/06/2021 to 20/06/2023
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Gaia CU9: facilitating UK exploitation of Gaia data, 2019-2023 extension
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of PhysicsDates
01/04/2019 to 31/03/2023
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Research in astrophysics and cosmology at Bristol
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of PhysicsDates
01/04/2018 to 30/06/2021
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Economic Development through Radio Astronomy Workshop
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of PhysicsDates
01/01/2018 to 31/12/2019
Thesis supervisions
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Radio to x-ray emission of jets and hotspots
Supervisors
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Extreme Jet Bends in Nearby Radio Galaxies
Supervisors
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Charged Dust Dynamics in Saturn's Rings
Supervisors
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The bases of extragalactic radio jets
Supervisors
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The x-ray variability and reverberation of Active Galactic Nuclei
Supervisors
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X-ray spectral timing of GX 339-4
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
01/07/2023A chance of rain
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
X-Ray Jets in the High-redshift Quasars J1405+0415 and J1610+1811
Astrophysical Journal
Active gas features in three HSC-SSP CAMIRA clusters revealed by high angular resolution analysis of MUSTANG-2 SZE and XXL X-ray observations
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Beyond Simple AGN Unification with Chandra-observed 3CRR Sources at 0.5 < z < 1
Astrophysical Journal
Discovery of Candidate X-ray Jets in High-Redshift Quasars
Astrophysical Journal